Fires in domestic or commercial fireplaces, camp fires, and wood fired ovens are widely used for warmth, aesthetics, and recreation. Any of such fires require burning wood and tending to the fire. Often there is a more optimal position for a log of wood for creating the most intense fire, creating a fire that evenly distributes heat over a certain area, or for safety reasons, such as if a log has fallen too far toward or out of an edge of the designated fire area. In any of these situations, the log should be moved but, as the log is on fire or at least very hot, in most cases, it would be dangerous to move the log directly with one's hands. Many fire tools have been developed to move logs. In addition to pokers, which can be used to poke or shift logs, but not to lift them up, many tools have been developed for actually lifting logs.
Some fireplace tools are designed so that a log may rest on top of the tool, assuming the log is properly balanced. Such a tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,657 to Feighery, which includes three tines. Unfortunately this tool has significant drawbacks. First, it is difficult to position both tines under the log, especially as the top tine reduces the leverage the user has to angle the bottom tines under the log. In addition, the design of the tool is such that a user would need to extend his arms directly over the fire in order to properly position the tines, which could result in the user being burned. Other similar tools, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,354,702 and 4,248,464, which include two tines that are designed such that both are inserted under the log so that the log may be lifted, are similarly disadvantaged insofar as it is difficult to get more than one tine under a log without pushing the log away. Moreover, they also suffer the difficulty of adequately balancing the log on top of the tool, assuming the user is able to get the tines under the log in the correct position. Finally, the tines on each of these tools do not include any details that prevent a log from rolling off of the tines or that could be used to turn a burning log that is resting in a fireplace or fire pit.
Other fireplace tools are designed to grasp a log, thereby eliminating the need to balance the log on top of the tool. Examples of such tools are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,742,727, 1,857,841, 6,457,756, and D254,704. Other such tools are often included in fireplace tool sets and generally include one piece with two tines that is held with one hand and another piece with one tine that is held with the other hand. The two pieces are connected so that when the user opens and closes his hands, the two tines of the one piece and the one tine of the other piece act as jaws that may be used to grasp and/or lift a fire log. Each of these tools are disadvantaged in that the grasp on the fire log is often tenuous and awkward.
A variation on such tools is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,344,170 to Ingram. This patent discloses a friction grip fireplace tool comprising a rod or bar, having a hand grip on one end, and on the other end a resilient, unary, v-shaped open-jawed mouth to grip, lift, and reposition logs in a fireplace. This tool is disadvantaged in that there may not be sufficient grip on the log to confidently move it, and even if there is sufficient grip, as the log is gripped in only one place, it may wobble unsafely from side to side.
Therefore there is a need for a fireplace tool that requires only one tine to be inserted under a log to gain control of the log and that gives the user a relatively secure hold of the log.